Short answer: Conformity assessment is the demonstration that specified requirements relating to a product, process, system, person or body are fulfilled (ISO/IEC 17000:2020). It is carried out through activities such as testing, inspection, certification, validation and verification, and the bodies that perform it can themselves be accredited against international standards.
Who sets the requirements?
Requirements can come from many places: a law or technical regulation, an international or national standard, a scheme owner's rules, or a buyer's specification. Conformity assessment does not write the requirements; it checks against them. That separation is why the same independent body can serve a regulator, a buyer and the public at once.
First, second and third party
| Party | Who performs it | Example |
|---|---|---|
| First party | The organisation that provides the object | A manufacturer's own final inspection |
| Second party | A person or organisation with a user interest | A retailer auditing its supplier |
| Third party | A body independent of both | A certification body or independent inspection body |
The main activities — and the standards for the bodies that do them
| Activity | What is assessed | Requirements for the body |
|---|---|---|
| Testing / calibration | Characteristics of a sample, measured | ISO/IEC 17025 |
| Inspection | Products, processes, installations or services, examined against requirements | ISO/IEC 17020 |
| Management-system certification | An organisation's management system | ISO/IEC 17021-1 |
| Product, process and service certification | Products, processes or services under a certification scheme | ISO/IEC 17065 |
| Personnel certification | Competence of individuals | ISO/IEC 17024 |
| Validation / verification | Claims, such as greenhouse-gas statements | ISO/IEC 17029 |
| Accreditation | Conformity-assessment bodies themselves | ISO/IEC 17011 (for accreditation bodies) |
Why the distinctions matter to buyers
- A management-system certificate says nothing directly about a specific product lot; an inspection report or product certificate may.
- A test report covers the sample tested, not the production that follows, unless a certification scheme adds surveillance.
- "Accredited" applies to the body and to a defined scope. Always check which activity and which standards the accreditation covers.
Key takeaways
- Conformity assessment is a family of activities, each governed by its own international standard.
- Independence and competence are the common thread across all of them.
- Ask what was assessed, against which requirements, by whom, and under which accreditation, if any.
Next step
The vocabulary and structure behind every certificate, inspection report and test result — and which international standard governs each kind of body.
The BVS conformity-assessment model
